Iowa Weekend

Matt and I made a quick trip to Iowa this past weekend to help Henry celebrate his 7th birthday and Olivia help celebrate her 4th birthday.  After getting to Kathy's late Friday night, we did what sisters do and talked until 2am.  This made for an early morning when Henry jumped on our bed at 6:30am!  But, it's the best way to wake up.  :)  Henry was excited to see Uncle Matt and they immediately started playing games on Matt's tablet.  I'm not ashamed to admit that Henry is much better at me so I'm sure Matt liked the increased competition!

At 11am, Henry's friends arrived and we all took off for Denison for a birthday party at the hospital.  Yes, hospital.  We were skeptical too, but it ended up being a blast!  They had pizza and drinks ready for us when we got there.  Then we went outside for games that included a pinata, scavenger hunt, frisbee throw, and shoe kicking contest.  The kids were excited because their goodie bags were full of goodies by the end of the games!  After cake and ice cream, the kids went to see the ambulance and had a lot of fun honking the horn and turning on the lights and sirens.

We made it back to Kathy's around 3pm and immediately went to prepping for Olivia's party.  Her friends showed up at 4pm and the next two hours were filled with tiara making, bracelet assembly, decorating papers with stamps, frosting their own cupcakes, and a lot of playing outside.  Everyone had a blast and took home a purse full of goodie bags.  (Kudos to Kathy for making the purses from scratch - she has more crafting talent in her little finger than I do in my entire body!)

Since it was nice day out, Kathy and Jordan invited some friends over to grill out for dinner.  I'm counting that as our third party for the day since that's when Henry and Olivia opened presents from the family.

I got talked into sleeping with Henry in the top bunk.  I wasn't going to (because I don't think the bed is very comfortable), but then he threw out "Auntie Kristin did!".  I couldn't let Auntie Kristin be a cooler aunt that me.  :)

Mom and Dad came over for breakfast so we had a great family breakfast.  Matt and I had a 1pm flight, so we took off for Omaha when the rest left for church.  We both took naps when we got home (3 parties in one day is a lot), but then had a relaxing evening by grilling out with Naomi and Ryan.  We all hit the hot tub for a half hour to top off the night.

It was so much fun to be in Iowa - even if only for a short time.  I can't wait until the summer when I can spend a longer time there!